For eight weeks this summer, California Southern Baptist churches will join hands and hearts to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of migrant workers and residents of impoverished California communities, primarily in the San Joaquin Valley. Click here to see the schedule.

Read about the 10-year anniversary of this ministry and how it has grown beyond its creator's imagination.

During the summer, about 28 California Migrant Centers and/or communities will be ministered to through:

Medical/dental screening will be basic with referrals to medical/dental personnel; no procedures will be performed. Each location will be staffed by professional medical and dental personnel.

A congressional study in 2005 revealed the Valley has a high poverty, low educational achievement and growing social needs. It also suggests the Valley is the new Appalachia, but receives fewer per-capita federal dollars than other impoverished areas in the United States.

Further studies indicate the problem is worsening in the Valley and is occurring more and more frequently in the homes of the working poor. The study revealed fewer than 5 percent of those receiving food are homeless, almost half the households served have at least one working adult, more than two-thirds had incomes below the federal poverty level, and 85 percent describe themselves as “food insecure,” meaning they don’t know where they’ll get their next meal. Click here to see the schedule.

Sources to fund the project include church contributions, corporate donations, the CSBC California Mission Offering, North American Mission Board Hunger funds, individual gifts and in-kind gifts.

The cost to fund each of the sites is approximately $5,000. Churches participating are asked to help in defraying this cost. To make a donation of any amount online, click here. Donations also can be mailed to CSBC, 678 E. Shaw Ave., Fresno, CA 93710. Donations should be designated for migrant ministries. All donations are tax deductible.